Man kills girlfriend, shoots her two daughters in head before killing himself

Monday

Aug 27, 2007 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2007 at 12:10 PM

NORTON - A Norton woman is dead and her two young daughters are clinging to life with bullet wounds to the head, after the woman’s ex-boyfriend shot all three in their Reservoir Street home before taking his own life Monday in Walpole, police said.

By Charles Winokoor

NORTON - A Norton woman is dead and her two young daughters are clinging to life with bullet wounds to the head, after the woman’s ex-boyfriend shot all three in their Reservoir Street home before taking his own life Monday in Walpole, police said.

The grisly discovery was made at 9:30 a.m. Monday by the woman’s ex-husband — who was also the girls’ biological father — and his current wife, police said.

Robert McDermott, 39, formerly of Mansfield and Norton, used a .44-caliber, six-shot revolver to shoot his victims sometime between Sunday and Monday morning, Norton Detective Sgt. Brian Clark said at a press conference Monday afternoon.

Using ballistics evidence McDermott’s gun was “positively identified” as being the murder weapon after being found near his body on train tracks in Walpole, police said.
McDermott had shot himself on the tracks and was subsequently run over by a passing train, according to police.

Clark said a 911 call came into police just before 9:30 a.m. from the deceased woman’s former husband. When cops got to the scene they found the two sisters, 12 and 15, lying in an upstairs hallway with single-bullet wounds to the head.

Both girls were listed in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital as of late Monday afternoon, Clark said.

Their mother was pronounced dead at the scene, her body found on the bed in her bedroom.

Police refused to release the identities of any of the murder victims pending notification of kin.

The family’s small dog was also found to have been fatally shot in the house.

Clark said during the time McDermott had lived in the house with his ex-girlfriend and her children, police had become aware of a rocky relationship between the two adults — including a restraining order taken out against him that expired two years ago.

“It was on and off again for some time,” Clark said of the domestic troubles.

He said the woman’s ex-husband had called Norton police over the last several days expressing concern for her and her daughters’ well-being, but that police did not suspect they were in grave danger.

The killings occurred in a quiet, rural section of town near the Norton reservoir. The house sits at the corner of Reservoir Street and South Highland Road and is a small, yellow two-story structure with brown shutters and an American flag hanging over the front door.

Neighbors, such as Marybeth Ronayne, who lives a block away from the murder scene, expressed shock.

But at least one other neighbor, who said he knew McDermott on a casual basis for the past couple of years, said he wasn’t all that taken aback.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” said Norm, 30, who declined to reveal his last name.

He said McDermott, who he referred to as Bob, was basically a “pretty good guy when he was sober.” But he said when he drank, which was often, he would turn mean and antagonistic.

“He started at least two fights here,” Norm said. “And he would talk about stuff he did in bars.”

He said he last saw McDermott Saturday night when he stopped by to talk after getting thrown out of the house by his girlfriend.

“He seemed like he just didn’t care anymore,” said Norm, who added it was his understanding McDermott didn’t work and was taking pain medication for a bad back.

Christine Jenkins lives half a block from where the woman and her daughters were shot. She said she walked toward the house to take a look Monday morning after she heard a woman’s voice.

“The wife came out screaming,” Jenkins said, referring to the woman now married to the slain woman’s ex-husband.

She said the father of the two girls told emergency responders he wanted to go with them to be with his daughters.

“It’s horrible,” Jenkins said.

The case remains under investigation by Norton police, Bristol County First Assistant District Attorney Thomas Quinn and the head of the state police unit assigned to the case, Detective Lt. Steve O’Reilly.

Charles Winokoor of the Taunton (Mass.) Daily Gazette can be reached at cwinokoor@tauntongazette.com.